Prannoy Defeats World No 2 Srikanth to Win National Championship

HS Prannoy outwitted World No 2 and title favourite Kidambi Srikanth in a thrilling finale to claim the men's singles title at the 82nd Senior National Championship, in Nagpur on Wednesday, 8 November.

Second seed Prannoy, who achieved his career-best ranking of World No 11 last week, saw off top seed Srikanth 21-15, 16- 21, 21-7 in a 49-minute clash to return the favour after his semi-final loss to his compatriot at the French Open Super Series last month.

Satwik Sai Raj R and Ashwini Ponnappa, who decided to pair up just six months back, showed their prowess by beating



top-seed and World No 16 Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy 21-9, 20-22, 21-17 to clinch the mixed doubles crown.

Srikanth and Prannoy have played four times in their international career but it was the former who had the last laugh on the last three occasions. The only time Prannoy had beaten Srikanth was way back at the 2011 Tata Open.

Srikanth has been riding the success wave, winning four titles after reaching five finals this season. However, all the statistics didn't matter as Prannoy showed why his wins over Lee Chong Wei and Chen Long this season were no fluke.